


Too Close

by LittleDoveFlyingHigh



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Tragedy, slight romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-11
Updated: 2016-02-16
Packaged: 2018-05-19 19:25:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5978419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleDoveFlyingHigh/pseuds/LittleDoveFlyingHigh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack had a friend before he met the Guardians. Key word, "had."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Two Souls Lost

Jack Frost, spirit of winter, the mischief maker, he'd heard it all - and didn't care. He didn't care that the humans couldn't see him, that the other spirits went out of their way to ignore him. Okay, maybe he cared a _little_. Maybe it did hurt went people walked right through him, when spirits turned up their noses and shunned him.

What did he ever do to deserve that? Why was he judged immediately without even knowing the people who were judging him? Why was he all _alone_?

Jack's rapidly depressing thoughts were interrupted by singing. A young girl by the sound of it, and she had a beautiful voice. At closer inspection, Jack saw her skating around on his pond. She sang a lovely song that Jack had never heard of, which really wasn't all that surprising.

"This is it boys this is war - what are we waiting for?

Why don't we break the rules already?"

The girl did a small leap and spun, her dark blonde hair flung in a halo around her. She had a small smile on her shell-pink lips.

"I was never one to believe the hype

Save that for the black and white

I try twice as hard and I'm half as liked,

But here they come again to jack my style"

Jack saw the lime green headphones (beats by dre, he noticed) start to slip off her head. He was kind of sad that they were going to fall off. He wanted to hear her keep singing without interruption.

"That's alright

I found a martyr in m-"

The girl yelped and fell as she was startled by the clattering of her headphones when they hit the ice. She groaned in slight pain as she slowly sat up. She started fumbling for her headphones, staring straight ahead. Jack furrowed his brow in confusion. Why wasn't she using her eyes and _looking_ like any sensible person would?

Could she - Could she not _see_?

Impossible! Everyone could see, right? It was natural law...right? But this girl, she clearly couldn't see, unless she was just being an idiot...but that seemed unlikely. There was no one watching her, unless you counted Jack whom she couldn't see, so she had no reason to act dumb. And she certainly seemed like a smart girl, based on appearances, although appearances weren't always the best things to go off of.

Jack decided to help the girl and nudged her headphones near to where her hand was. The girl froze when she heard the noise but picked up the headphones nonetheless. She cocked her head in the general direction of Jack.

"Is someone there?" she asked kindly.

Jack stayed quiet, not willing to get his hopes up.

"You know it's rude to trick a blind person, right?" she said with the slightest bit of irritability coloring her voice.

"I'm not tricking you," he said more to himself than her, "It's not like anyone realizes I exist, so why would you?" He sighed and got ready to take off.

"Just because people don't notice you doesn't mean you're not there," the girl said, staring in Jack's general direction with cloudy green eyes.

"You-You can hear me?" Jack gaped, unable to control the joy he felt.

"Of course I can!" the girl huffed. "Why wouldn't I be able to?"

"It's just that no one has seen or heard me in three hundred years," Jack said, taking a step closer to the girl and helping her up.

"Are you a ghost?" the girl asked. "It would make sense then why you're so cold, and over three hundred years old."

Jack shook his head, then realizing that the girl couldn't actually see him shaking his head he said "No, I'm not a ghost, at least I don't think I am."

The girl hummed in thought for a moment. "Well, what's your name? Maybe you're a ghost that hasn't realized it yet."

Jack hesitated, should he really give her his name? Would she laugh and call him crazy if he did? He decided to take that chance, besides she was the first person to even acknowledge his existence in three centuries.

"Jack Frost."

Silence. Jack watched the girl as she took in this information, waiting for her to dismiss him as nothing more than a myth, waiting for her to pass right through him like he was made of smoke.

Except that she didn't. She smiled and did her best to look at him. Sliding a bit on the ice, she made a suggestion, "Why don't we sit on the shore of the pond?"

Jack laughed a little and teased her, "What, can't stand on ice?"

"I can, but I don't want to right now," she said. "And anyway, it'd be easier for me to sit in the snow rather than try to keep my balance on the ice."

Jack laughed and led her to the shore. He let her sit down her own after her complaints of "I'm blind, not legless!"

The girl hummed again, mindlessly twisting her hair as she did so. "Jack Frost, huh? _The_ Jack Frost?"

"The one and only," Jack replied.

"Hmmm," she hummed again. "I'm Lexi by the way, Lexi Strauss." She sat silently for a bit. "How come no one has ever seen you before?" she asked.

It was an innocent enough question, but it still hurt Jack. It made him feel isolated and alone, it made him realize that this girl was probably the _only_ human who would ever see, or in her case hear, him.

"I don't know," he answered.

"Humph, that's not right," Lexi said. "If you're alone, you should at least _know_ why you're alone."

Jack smirked at that, forgetting that Lexi couldn't see him. "Yeah, well, I woke up three centuries ago only knowing my name."

"And who told you your name?"

Jack frowned slightly. "The Man in the Moon."

Lexi seemed to grow a little upset at this, or maybe it was just exasperation. "Did you ever ask the Man in the Moon why you were here, why you were alone?"

"Yeah."

The word seemed to hang in the air. It weighed heavily as the sun started to set.

"You should probably go home," Jack said, stretching and sighing contentedly when his back popped. "I'll take you back to Burgess."

Lexi stood up, taking her skates off and replacing them with shoes. "I'll take you up on that offer. But first I have a question."

Jack hesitated, but only for a moment. "Yes?"

"What do you look like?"

Jack wasn't sure how to respond to this. How do you explain what you look like to someone who can't see? "Um.."

"Let's start easy then," she giggled. "What color is your hair?"

Jack was...confused to say the least, but answered nonetheless. "White."

"White," Lexi said. "White like snow. Okay, now what about your eyes?"

"Blue."

Lexi huffed. "Pale blue, dark blue? Be a little more specific."

Jack thought for a moment. "Blue, like - like ice and sky all mixed together."

Lexi closed her eyes, smiling as she painted a mental picture of Jack. "What about your skin?"

"White. Like snow."

Lexi laughed. "No one has skin like snow. I think more, white like eggshells."

"What's the difference?" Jack asked.

"There might not be a difference to you, or anyone else for that matter," she said with a smile. "But to me, that makes a huge difference. Okay, now how tall are you?"

"Just a few inches taller than you," he stated simply.

Lexi hummed again and twisted her hair. "Move my head up so I'm looking you in the eyes," she said.

Jack did as she said. Lexi wasn't as young as he'd originally thought, though she was still young, maybe thirteen or fourteen.

"What are you wearing?" Lexi was certainly one of the more curious people he'd seen.

"A blue hoodie and brown pants."

"No shoes?" she asked.

"None."

She sighed. "Well I think I'm done with my questions for today." She smiled in his direction. "Mind walking me home?"

Jack laughed.

* * *

The two continued meeting everyday at the same time for several months. Lexi would ask Jack a bunch of questions, to which he would answer as best he could. Neither was ever late for a meeting, mostly since Jack really didn't have too much to do and Lexi always had her homework done within minutes of the school day ending.

As these meetings progressed, Jack learned a bit about Lexi's home life and family. Lexi's mom was a respected lawyer and her father was a policeman. Lexi had two brothers, one younger and the other older. Lexi was the only one in her family that was blind, though she said that when she was little she could see, the only one with any sight troubles actually. She had once told Jack how isolated she felt in her own family, her brothers made fun of her - not even in a brotherly and kind way, but in a mean and cruel way.

Jack often asked why Lexi never hung out with her friends, to which she would reply "You _are_ my friend, Jack." Her response would always make Jack wonder if he was maybe the only person who looked past Lexi's blindness. When he looked at her, he saw the same overwhelming loneliness in her dull eyes that were in his own.

Lately though, she had been...distant. She had been acting off, she didn't quite focus. She said her brothers were picking on her more and the kids at school were being more rude than usual. She always seemed to be in her own little world, but was always trying to convince Jack that she had in fact, been listening.

It was five o'clock. Lexi was half an hour late. She was never late. Never. Jack decided to let it go for the time being. Maybe something unexpected popped up.

It was six o'clock. Lexi was an hour and a half late. Jack started worrying. He was tempted to go search for her...but he had no idea where she lived other than that it was in Burgess.

It was snowing rather heavily that night, not that Jack minded.

He shouted for the wind to get him to the town, it obeyed. It took him to Burgess, swirling around him in a calming way. Wind gently sat him down on the ground and ruffled his hair, as if saying _"I'm here for you."_

Jack searched for hours on end, looking for his friend, looking for the only person who wanted to be around him. It was a tiring, grueling, _exhausting_ search. He wanted - no, _needed_ \- to find Lexi. He felt somewhere deep inside himself that she was hurting and alone.

Jack stopped searching when the sun started to rise. He watched it come up. He squinted when rays of light illuminated the dark shadows under his eyes, dark shadows staining his pale skin. His eyes were dull with the need for sleep, and he could barely keep his balance while flying back to the forest. He ended up falling asleep in Wind's gentle grasp, and was soon set down carefully in a tree near his pond.

Jack managed one thought before the haze of sleep took him. _I'll wait for her..._

* * *

Lexi didn't show up that day, or the day after that, or the day after that. She didn't show up for two whole weeks.

Jack searched for her every day and night until he collapsed from exhaustion and Wind had to carry him home. He actually broke down and cried once, thinking he had lost his mind and had imagined all the months he had spent with Lexi.

He kept telling himself he would wait for her.

And he did.

He waited.

And waited.

But she never came back.

* * *

It was March when he found her. She had been resting under a slab of granite, six feet under the cold, snowy earth. Jack had searched every nook and cranny of Burgess for the thousandth time when a little feeling in the bottom of his heart told him to search the graveyard. And he did search.

There was a new grave in the graveyard, only a few days old. But Lexi was missing for over _a month_. How could it be possible? Had she been... _ignoring_ him? Jack met her in the beginning of November, and she had disappeared around Valentine's Day. How could this grave be fresh?

That didn't matter though, Jack's heart was shattering at the realization that the only person that had ever been (and probably ever would be) his friend, was _dead_. Only a few short months of knowing her and she turns up dead. Maybe it was Jack's fault. Did he somehow cause this? He hoped not.

He read the inscription on the slab.

_"Alexis 'Lexi' Strauss_

_December 7th, 1996 - March 12th, 2011_

_Loving Daughter and Faithful Sister._

_She May Have Been Blind,_

_But She Saw More Than Anyone Else."_

Jack screamed at the moon for its cruelty.

* * *

Pitch was defeated, all was well with the world. Jack had believers, people _saw_ him. It wasn't the same as when _she_ saw him.

A full year after her death and he still felt like his heart had just been ripped out. He never even knew what happened to her, never got to say goodbye.

That would change, he would find the truth, no matter how painful.

* * *

He asked Jamie, Pippa, Monty, Claude, Caleb, and Cupcake if they knew what happened. No, they remembered her, remembered her being mentioned in the paper but nothing else.

He asked Tooth if she could tell him what happened. She told him that, even though she wanted to help, she couldn't let him see Lexi's memories.

He asked Sandy if he knew. Sandy did appear to know, but the symbols he created were too complicated for Jack to read.

He asked Bunny if he knew. Bunny smiled sadly and told him to go see North. Jack caught the look of pity in Bunny's eyes before he left though.

He asked North. North froze in his work and turned slowly to look at Jack.

"Come with me," he said.

The tall Russian led Jack to a room full of filing cabinets. Motioning for Jack to wait, he went and opened a file, pulled out a pristine piece of computer paper, and walked back to the winter spirit.

North placed the paper in Jack's hands. "Read this first, then I tell you what you need to hear," he stated softly.

Jack did as he was told.

_Dear Saint Nicolas (also known as Santa Clause),_

_I know that I may be a little old for this, but I still have a wish. It's not for me actually, but for a friend. Normally I'd say 'only if it's okay' or 'if possible', but this is important. Not to mention, it should be completely possible for you to do. Here I go: The only thing I want for Christmas is for my friend, Jack Frost, to be seen by people. I know that I 'see' him, but I want other people to see him too. It's not fair to him. Please, I'm_ begging _you to make it so that people see Jack. I won't be around forever and I don't want him to be alone again. Please._

_Sincerely,_

_Alexis Strauss_

"She-She asked for me to be seen?" Jack asked through a wobbly voice. His eyes filled with unshed tears.

"Yes," North sighed. "I was going to grant her wish but Man in Moon told me not to, and to not tell you I knew of your relation to her."

Jack grew angry all of the sudden, lashing out at North. "Why?! That's not fair! Why would he tell you to continue ignoring me?!" Jack was standing, the walls were being coated in jagged ice, spikes of frost spread on the floor. "Why?" He looked pleadingly at North. "The Man in the Moon ignored me, then told you to ignore Lexi's wish, and then - and then," Tears were coming down, freezing as they left icy , sky blue eyes; they made a _plink!_ sound when they hit the frost-covered floor, the sound of a heart breaking. "And then he took her away!"

North sighed and wrapped Jack in a hug, holding onto the squirming spirit and waiting for him to stop struggling. The larger spirit then stepped back, keeping his hands on Jack's shoulders, and fixed the boy in a kind, yet sad, gaze. "Man in Moon works in mysterious ways, no? He granted your friend's wish, just not immediately. People see you, do they not?" Jack nodded, thinking of Jaime and his friends. "You see, he was waiting for right time."

North then gently led Jack onto the couch and looked thoughtful for a moment. "You are sure you want to know what happened to Alexis?"

"Yes!" Jack pleaded, he had waited long enough in his opinion.

"Alright then, I shall tell you." He paused, thinking. "February 14th, Valentine's Day. It was late and the sky was starting to grow dark..."

_Alexis was walking her younger brother, Jake, home from one of his friends' houses. They were crossing a road, it was small and hardly ever busy. Suddenly, Jake shoved her on the cold, snowy ground._

_"See ya later, loser!" he shouted at her._

_"Jake! Jake, come back! You're going to get us both in trouble with Mom!" she yelled, more annoyed than anything._

_"No,_ you're _gonna get in trouble, 'cause I'm gonna tell Mom you left me!"_

_Alexis, tired of her brother being an idiot, followed him into the street, listening to the sound of his feet hitting the ground as he jumped up and down to taunt her. The sound of an engine filled Alexis's sensitive ears and she froze. Jake was too busy yelling and shouting to notice._

_"Jake. Jake, get out of the road," she said as calmly as she could. If he wasn't reacting then the car wasn't in sight yet._

_Jake's eyes narrowed into a glare, not that Alexis knew. "You're not the boss of me!"_

_"Now!" Alexis started panicking even more, the car had to be in sight by now! Did her brother have a death wish?!_

_"NO! Nononononono!" he started screeching, scrunching his eyes closed._

_Alexis growled and grabbed his arm, intent on yanking him off the road, but he was surprisingly strong for a seven year old. He stood his ground and kept screaming at her. It was snowing, the driver wouldn't see them until it was too late. Alexis would be too slow to move if she had to drag Jake._

_There were only seconds left when Alexis made a choice. She shoved Jake with all her might, sending him sprawling on the other side of the road. The car hit her so fast she didn't feel a thing. She faintly heard her brother screaming her name and calling for help._

_Alexis was in a coma for twenty-seven days before her parents cut her off from life support._

North finished telling Jack what happened to Lexi. The look in Jack's eyes was the worst. It spoke of pain and misery and _guilt._ It was as though Jack thought there was something he could have done, as if it were his fault.

"Thank you for telling me," the winter spirit mumbled.

"Jack, wait..." But Jack had already left.

He reached Antarctica within an hour. He realized something, the Moon was cruel, and had tried to teach him a lesson.

"So, you wanted me to learn not to get too close, right?" Jack spat at the silver orb in the sky. "You let an innocent person see me. For what? So she would die and teach me a lesson? You're sick and cruel." Jack shook his head, a broken smirk on his face. "Lesson didn't work, it made me want to try harder to get closer to them. So that I can protect them... _from you_."


	2. But Now We're Found Again

He visited her grave every day. It was still painful to think about her, painful to think about the life she would never have. Jack sometimes wondered if he ever would have been able to stop her death, prevent it somehow.

But, no. That just would not do. The Man in the Moon had already decided Lexi's fate, there was no preventing her death. That didn't stop Jack from imagining 'what if' scenarios.

What if he had gone to meet her that day?

What if he had searched harder?

What if he had found her in the hospital?

Would it have changed anything? Probably not, it most likely would have made him feel worse about not being able to save her.

He felt completely alone again, as though Jaime and the Guardians had never met him. He felt like he was invisible, to all but the blind girl he met at his pond.

But she was not there anymore. She would no longer be there to reassure him that he was not invisible. She would never again use her hands as her eyes. She would never again touch his face gently to see what his mood was that day. She would never laugh again. She would never smile again. She would never find _the one_ that the other mortal girls talked on and on about. She would never get the chance to have children. Her life had ended before it had really had a chance to begin.

At first, there were tears that would never stop. Then, there was anger and rage. Finally, there was resignation. He gave up feeling anything. He was glad he knew the full story, but that didn't make it any better. It didn't bring her back. He had no choice but to live an eternity knowing that he could never allow himself to feel an affection so strong as that ever again, lest he risk the person's death and agony.

* * *

Several years passed. Jaime was far away in college, having forgotten Jack once he reached his late teen years. Jack remained, alone but for the dysfunctional family that hardly ever met. He remained at his pond, the wind howling its sorrows for its lonely boy. He remained for _her_. He watched over her brothers as they grew up. The younger, Jake, was in high school, though he remained haunted by his sister's passing. The elder, Jasper, had fled from his home as soon as he was eighteen. Jack had a difficult time tracking him down, but when he did he wished he hadn't. Jasper had fallen hard. The boy had turned to drugs and alcohol to try and erase the pain of many years, and the guilt of his lack of kindness towards Lexi. Jack had left him be once he saw how far Jasper had fallen.

Now Jack was visiting her grave once more. The headstone was wind-whipped and worn. It was eternally frozen. Kyo of the Summer, Marian of the Spring, and Jason of the Fall never touched the grave. They knew what it meant to Jack, and for that he was eternally grateful. The people of Burgess said the grave never thawed because Winter had fallen in love with the kind young girl, though most said so in passing and never really thought anything of it, this _was_ the twenty-first century.

Maybe they were right. Maybe, just maybe, Winter really _had_ fallen in love with Alexis Strauss.

Jack shook his head. He knew what his feelings were, he had asked North about it once; the strange, warm feeling that used to bubble up in his chest whenever he saw her, and now the hollow emptiness that ached whenever he thought of her, saw her grave, watched her family mourn her on her birthday, whenever he spoke her name. North had laughed and told him it was indeed love, but he would always sober up and murmur that Valentine was a cruel, sick spirit to have done such a thing. Jack had never met Valentine before, but he was never spiteful towards what she (or he) had done. If anything, he was grateful that he had been given this feeling of... _love_. Jack had always wondered if Lexi had loved him back, or if it was just a friendship that she felt.

Jack floated towards the icy grave. The words on it were worn from the wind and rain and tears that attacked them. But he still knew what they said, he had long ago memorized the epitaph.

He carried with him the brightest of red roses that he (Bunny had found them and given them to Jack, knowing the flowers would look rather beautiful on a certain grave) could find, on the tips of the roses were frozen dewdrops. Jack had heard that roses were the flowers of love. He didn't care that she was dead, he knew she would somehow know.

"Hey, Lexi," he called in the silence. "I...um- I brought you flowers. I know the other girls seem to really like getting flowers." He lapsed into silence. This was a bad idea. Who knew who could be listening in? He took a deep breath. "Listen, I-I don't know how to put this, but I," He gulped, swallowing his fear. "I lo-"

"Stop."

Jack whipped around. "Who's there?"

A woman walked out of a newly gathered mist and fog. She was unlike any other woman Jack had ever seen before. She was the definition of mortal beauty and perfection: her long, lightly tanned legs moved with a grace unknown to any mortal, her body made a perfect hourglass shape (though, that may have been due to the corset she wore), her face was angular and sharp, her lips were redder than any rouge or ruby, her hair was a sleek, raven black that cascaded over her shoulders in loose ringlets and showered down her back to her waist. It was her eyes that captured attention though. Her eyes were like amethysts bathed in the fires of Hell itself, they were frightening, and demanded attention.

"You know my name, Jack Frost," she said in a silky smooth voice.

"I don't, " he replied.

She pouted, but Jack saw through her little human-like ways. This was a rouse, she was tricking him, trying to make him think she was harmless. "I'm hurt, Jack. Honestly, you've wounded me. I don't think my poor, delicate heart can take this." She put the back of her hand on her forehead, and for a second Jack thought she would faint, just a second.

"Are you . . . Cupid . . .?"

The woman snapped up so fast she could've broken her neck. "Cupid? _Cupid?!_ " she hissed. "I'm not _Cupid_! I'm Davina Valentine! _I'm the true Spirit of Love and Joy!_ " Her face was mere centimeters from his. She had sharp canines bared at him, her nostrils flared. And her _eyes._ They were terrifying. The mild red-orange in them flared up and nearly drowned out the amethyst.

But, controlling her brief flash of rage, she composed herself once more. She straightened the red skirt poking out of her corset-like outfit. She adjusted the large, clunky, but still somehow tasteful goggles resting on her gray fedora. She seated herself on a nearby headstone. "Ah, but what a simple mistake to make. I can't fault you for not knowing any better," she cooed at him. "You were about to confess your love to this here mortal, weren't you?" she questioned, one of her perfect black eyebrows slid upwards in a way that let Jack know that she already knew the answer to her question.

"Yeah," Jack answered cautiously. He wasn't sure if he could completely trust Davina, North didn't seem to trust or like her. "What's it to you?"

She looked shocked that he would even think of asking her that. "Why, Jack, I'm the Spirit of _Love_! Of course anything with love has something to do with me!" She scooted off the rock gracefully, and practically glided next to him. "Besides, wouldn't you rather she _knew_ of your confession?"

Jack eyed her warily. "She's dead. What could you possibly do?"

She smiled a sickly sweet smile at him, as if he were just some overly naïve child that needed a reality check. "Oh, Jack, there isn't much I _can't_ do. All you have to do is say the word. Then she'll be back. Just. Like. That." She snapped her fingers for effect.

Jack swiveled his head to watch her as she circled him. "And what's the catch?"

"Oh, I'm so glad you asked, Jack!" She really did look excited. "The 'catch' is that you'll only have a minute with her. Then _poof!_ " She clapped her hands and got in his face. "Gone forever! I won't ever be able to bring her back again." She looked at him closely. "So what's it gonna be, Jackie dearest? Just say the word."

Jack didn't even hesitate. "Yes! Do it! Bring her back!"

Davina smiled that sickly sweet smile again. "That's what I'd hoped you'd say." Her eyes flashed a malevolent red and orange. She grabbed his arm and brought out a knife with her left hand. "There's a price to pay with Dark magic, Jackie dearest!" She drove the knife into his forearm and plunged it all the way through. Jack screamed but couldn't break her grip. "This is what you wanted, Jack!" She placed her red, red lips next to his ear. "Magic isn't free, Jackie!" She twisted the knife for emphasis.

The world spun around Jack. He was nauseous and light-headed. He wanted to collapse, but Davina was forcefully holding him up. His arm was sluggishly bleeding dark red blood. Leaves and dirt and rocks whipped around him. The moon seemed to shine too bright. Everything was too loud and too quiet all at once.

Then there was nothing. Davina was gone, the graveyard was gone. It was all just . . . _nothing._ One big expanse of white noise and empty space.

He looked around. "Hello?" he called. Nothing, not even an echo. He looked at his arm, which had ceased to hurt. It was completely healed, there wasn't even a scar. "Anybody?" he tried again. Jack sighed, realizing that he was all alone.

Davina had probably tricked him. He shouldn't have trusted her. Now he knew better, though that was useless as he was never getting out of this place.

"Jack?"

He whipped around, frantically searching for the source of the voice. A voice that he had thought that he'd never hear again. It was so gentle and sweet and kind, just like he remembered.

"Lexi?" He searched frantically, looking for any sign of the girl he had accidentally fallen for.

"Jack? Where are you?"

He continued to look, zipping here and there. "I'm here! I'm here! I'm coming, Lexi!"

"Where are you, Jack?"

He shouted desperately for her again and again. Still, she did not seem to find him, nor did he find her.

" _ALEXIS!_ " It was a desperate last attempt, but still worth a try.

It seemed to Jack that he imagined it all. He had lost his mind, that's what happened. He sighed, defeated. His minute was almost up anyway.

A soft, warm hand placed itself on his shoulder. He whipped around.

There she was. His angel, his friend, his lost love. She smiled just as he remembered it, friendly, warm, open, _caring_.

"Jack."

"Lexi," he began, awestruck. "I need to tell you something."

She floated closer to him. "So do I, but you first."

Nodding, he braced himself for regection. "I...I think I love you."

Her ghostly translucent cheeks flushed with color. Her eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. She cartoonish like that.

"That's...that's wonderful!" she shouted with joy. She tackled Jack in a hug, kissing his cheek, not even flinching at his horribly cold skin. "I think I love you too."

Jack embraced her, knowing he only had seconds.

There they stood, bodies entangled so that one could barely tell when Jack ended and Lexi began. Jack felt homself slipping back into his world, the pain in his arm returning. He held tighter to her. She was the only world he wanted, the only person he wanted to spend eternity with.

"See you soon, Jack," she mumbled into his neck.

"Goodbye," he whispered back.

He cried, feeling himself slip away, losing her again. This time it would be permanent.

* * *

Jack woke up to a sickly familiar voice, one he now hated and liked.

"So how are you, Jackie dearest?"

Ignoring the Spirit, he got up, laid the flowers on Lexi's grave, an started floating away.

"Ooh, a bit sore, are we?" She was bouncing alongside him in a playful and childish way. "Did you tell her? Did she tell you?"

Something inside Jack snapped from the built up stress. "Why do you care, _witch_?"

Her facial expression became something akin to shock and hurt. "I'm the Spirit of Love and Joy. It's basically my _job_ to make sure people find their soul mates."

"So you were perfectly happy sit and watch as a perfectly innocent and kind person was ripped from the world?" Jack was tired of her switching between serious and childish personae, he wanted the truth.

"No, there was nothing I could do. I'm not allowed to interfere with Lunar's plans, no one is." Jack would have thought he saw her eyes misting up of it weren't for the fact that he knew she wasn't that sensitive. "I wanted to save her. No one deserves that fate."

"I don't believe you." Jack continued to stalk away.

She floated beside him, apparently no longer happy enough to bounce around. "I'm telling the truth, but...it's okay that you don't believe me." She looked away."I wouldn't."

He felt pity for her, she seemed genuinely sorry, but that didn't excuse her actions earlier.

"Just...leave me alone, okay?"

She nodded, resting her hand on his head for a fraction of a second. "Call of you need anything, Jackie." She smiled and floated away, eventually disappearing in a _shoop!_ noise.

It was all just too much to comprehend. Jack needed time to think, to heal. He called to the wind, streaking past entire cities and landmarks. He didn't know where he was, he didn't care. He just wanted some breathing room while he thought and pondered over this newly acquired information.

He flew past an ice rink. On it a boy was showing another boy, this one blind, how to skate. The blind boy fell, and when the other boy picked him up, they kissed, a gentle and loving touch of lips. They stayed together on the ice rink, connected by their lips and hands twisted around the other's.

* * *

_Now here you are,_

_And here I am._

_Two souls lost,_

_But now we're found again._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Last chapter! Okay, don't mind me while I go work on all the other stacks of stories I need to type up!   
> ~Love, Dove~

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic on Ao3, so I'm still getting used to it. Drop a comment or like if you enjoyed it!


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